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Speaking of painful Neil Diamond displays at a baseball game, I happened to catch Diamond's unveiling of "Freedom Song" during a Washington Nationals broadcast. I think if they started playing that in addition to God Bless America during every game I'd actually have to stop watching baseball.

And I say that as someone who actually kind of likes Neil Diamond...or at least Taproot Manuscript anyway.

FOX manipulates audio throughout the game. The sound of a runner's foot stepping on a base is far louder on a close play than it is at any other time. They have been doing it for years. I think all they are doing is amping up the microphones nearest the action, not with any intent to suppress sound otherwise.

Even when it's not a close play, the sound of someone sliding into a base is somethjng I associate with FOX. I find it irritating how the audio is amped up at the base to get the sliding sound, then immediately cut off.

"Even when it's not a close play, the sound of someone sliding into a base is somethjng I associate with FOX. I find it irritating how the audio is amped up at the base to get the sliding sound, then immediately cut off."

If they left it on, either the runner is out of the fielder did not get a putout. Somebody is going to be pissed either way, and you risk a chance of capturing on of the FCC's dirty words.

If you're going to play a Neil Diamond song at a ballpark, it should be "America." That's still a good record, and there's little kitschy about it. (Maybe it's perceived as a bit too pro-immigration for Tea Party types.)

It's not so much the immediate cut-out of the sliding sound as much as it is an instant reminder that they pointlessly amped up the sound of the slide in the first place. To take another example from the same game, Mike Trout slid head first into second base on his leadoff double. The play was not close; the RF took his time getting the ball in. The slide was.amped up, then cut out before Trout could ask for time to be called.

All I am saying is that FOX does this throughout the game to "enhance" the viewing experience, and I don't see the Sweet Caroline thing as anything different. They turn the microphone on near the action, then switch away.

3: CBS used to do that masterfully during its earlier run of NFC right broadcasts. They'd mix in an amplified sound from the mic near the end zone, which would mesh especially well with Pat Summerall's call. This was a difference from NBC's method, which made plays in the end zone sound bland by comparison.

I wish they could do a cable broadcast so they could broadcast the prohibited words. I think it would be fun to watch a game in which the sound was as if you were on the field. A mic at every base, sporadically in the OF and at home plate. Would be a very cool broadcast.

Ah, well.

So, I had the sound off during the game - was it announced as a tribute to the Boston bombing victims and then the fans booed?

I don't like Sweet Caroline and I'm sick of all the honoring and memorializing but jeebus, if someone says, this is in honor of people who died and were maimed, I'll go get a beer or something. You can't boo that.

Neil Diamond has had too much work done, his face looks permanently frozen into a pissed off look--he resembles Norm MacDonald portraying Burt Reynolds on a Saturday Night Live parody of Celebrity Jeopardy

So, I had the sound off during the game - was it announced as a tribute to the Boston bombing victims and then the fans booed?

The booing started immediately. It was announced as a song played and enjoyed at many stadia throughout MLB, and was also being done to honor the victims of the marathon bombing. FOX audio shenanigans notwithstanding, the booing was loudest on TV before the bit about the bombing.

As it should have been. NY fans shouldn't have a Boston tradition forced on them under the pretense that it goes on at other places besides Fenway. The marathon thing I'll grant.

Ostensibly a tribute to Boston Marathon bombing victims, the stunt flopped like nearly every other MLB (or Citi Field) attempt made with good intentions. Though, really, what did they expect a New York crowd to do when Boston’s favorite song about 11-year-old girls is performed? As you can see above, they booed heavily.

My faith in Mets fans has now been restored.

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Neil Diamond has had too much work done, his face looks permanently frozen into a pissed off look--he resembles Norm MacDonald portraying Burt Reynolds on a Saturday Night Live parody of Celebrity Jeopardy

Neil Diamond's music should be confined to small elevators in two story buildings.

Neil Diamond has had too much work done, his face looks permanently frozen into a pissed off look--he resembles Norm MacDonald portraying Burt Reynolds on a Saturday Night Live parody of Celebrity Jeopardy

Actually Diamond's singing and antics reminded me of everyone's crazy drunk uncle who grabs the mic at every wedding reception...maybe that's the real reason Leyland brought in Rivera in the 8th- to get everyone to forget about Neil Diamond...

Ostensibly a tribute to Boston Marathon bombing victims, the stunt flopped like nearly every other MLB (or Citi Field) attempt made with good intentions. Though, really, what did they expect a New York crowd to do when Boston’s favorite song about 11-year-old girls is performed?

Show a little ####### class and not boo? You don't have to enthusiastically sing or even stand up or anything but I don't think it's necessary to actively boo.

The Mets fans booed everyone. They booed Yankees. They booed Braves. They booed Phillies. I've never heard so much booing at the introductions to the All-Star game. Who pays big bucks for tickets to the All-Star game to boo the All-Stars?!

An exception - they didn't boo Joe Mauer. Only idiots in Minnesota would be dumb enough to boo Joe Mauer.

Before I start howling, I'm going to ask for some corroboration. I know mets fans are primarily Black Clouds, but with the "failed like everything at MLB and Citifield" note and the Deadspin source, I'm curious how horrendous this booing actually was specifically during this Sweet Caroline thing.

Bob Tufts was there, someone else was as well, was the booing just for the song really that pronounced?

The booing started immediately. It was announced as a song played and enjoyed at many stadia throughout MLB

Including Shea Stadium for quite a few years; apparently Mets fans have finally come to their senses. Now if the powers that be at CitiField only stop playing that inane Lou Monte song that confirms all the worst outer-borough Italian-American stereotypes.

I remember the crowd booing David Ortiz too. They sat on their hands for everyone else except Harvey, Wright and Beltran. I expect louder cheers for local players but I think that crowd would have rather gone to a Mets game instead.

The Mets fans booed everyone. They booed Yankees. They booed Braves. They booed Phillies. I've never heard so much booing at the introductions to the All-Star game. Who pays big bucks for tickets to the All-Star game to boo the All-Stars?!

Bob Tufts was there, someone else was as well, was the booing just for the song really that pronounced?

I only went to the HR Derby. The Met fans booed most players and I am surprised they didn't boo the Stand Up To Cancer moment. And being a contrarian who also had to give at the (medical) office, I didn't stand up.

I don't think they were booing - they were saying Boo-urns in honor of Britt Burns and his 1981 All-Star experience.

Show a little ####### class and not boo? You don't have to enthusiastically sing or even stand up or anything but I don't think it's necessary to actively boo.

It was a crass move on the part of Fox and MLB to pull this at all. They can claim it was a tribute to the victims of the bombing, but the crime itself had nothing to do with baseball, and it was three months ago. It would make as much sense to have a tribute to Trayvon Martin or the victims of the Aurora theater shootings.

It was obviously done because the Red Sox had a very nice, moving moment in response to the tragedy, including Neil Diamond's on-field performance at Fenway. The event at Citifield wasn't a tribute to the victims; it was a tribute to the tribute.

So Mets fans were being asked to stand up and sing along in recognition of how wonderful and classy Red Sox Nation was. I can understand why someone might boo that.

I can think of a few words to describe that effort, but nice wouldn't be among them. At least the Citifield folks had the good sense to use a backing track without the vocal, which is about all I can say in support. I agree wholeheartedly with the rest of your comment. It was completely out of place Tuesday, and I don't blame Mets fans for showing their displeasure.

It was obviously done because the Red Sox had a very nice, moving moment in response to the tragedy, including Neil Diamond's on-field performance at Fenway. The event at Citifield wasn't a tribute to the victims; it was a tribute to the tribute.

"And the peculiar thing is this my friends:
the song we sang on that fateful night it didn't actually sound
anything like this song."

It was a crass move on the part of Fox and MLB to pull this at all. They can claim it was a tribute to the victims of the bombing, but the crime itself had nothing to do with baseball, and it was three months ago. It would make as much sense to have a tribute to Trayvon Martin or the victims of the Aurora theater shootings.

Given that I'm still stuck listening to GBA 12 years later I'm a bit unsympathetic to this viewpoint. A tribute to Trayvon Martin might have been the best thing ever just for the shitstorm that would have followed.

I'll agree that it's unnecessary to pay tribute to the Marathon victims at the ASG. My thing is if it's going to happen, just have the decency to be respectful. Booing the players is fine, I get that and hell, I booed Jeter at the '99 ASG. But I don't think it's that tough to sit there while Neil badly sings his song. As someone said upthread, if it bothers you that much, go get a hot dog or take a leak or something.

Due to its "pure" and "American" nature as expressed by Walt Whitman and others, baseball is forced to sell itself as an entity and business that is attached to the American experience.

Anything that happens is supposed to be explained or viewed through the cultural prism by the game. It can become absurd, but it makes for a great college course that is far more interesting than current American Studies and History offerings. Once I get the Marvin Miller course assembled for Spring 2014, I will move on to do a class on baseball and society.

The Mets fans booed everyone. They booed Yankees. They booed Braves. They booed Phillies. I've never heard so much booing at the introductions to the All-Star game. Who pays big bucks for tickets to the All-Star game to boo the All-Stars?!

I was at the 1987 All-Star Game in Oakland where fans booed hometown hero Jay Howell. He later became the losing pitcher in that game.

If you're going to play a Neil Diamond song at a ballpark, it should be "America." That's still a good record, and there's little kitschy about it. (Maybe it's perceived as a bit too pro-immigration for Tea Party types.)

There's a risk to that: its length. One of my awkward childhood experiences involved a Scout troop unfurling the flag, saluting it, playing "America", and patiently waaaaaiiiting for the track to finish. It's 4:18, but felt like 8:18. I'm not even including the 80s keyboard work.

I was at the 1987 All-Star Game in Oakland where fans booed hometown hero Jay Howell. He later became the losing pitcher in that game.

I think that was because the hometown hero had been ineffective, he had already lost his job as closer to Dennis Eckersley, and then he was inexplicably added to the All-Star team at a time when most A's fans wanted him run out of town.

I was listening to the game on the radio at that point, and it had the same faked noise. I was shocked at how much a Citifield crowd was into singing "Bum bum bum," when they'd never sung it before.

I've heard this crap sung randomly in bars. Anyone born between 1970 and 1995 (and probably more years) knows the chorus singalong, please.

Am I the only one who remembers that they played "Sweet Caroline" at Mets games for a few seasons? I don't remember when it started or ended but it was recently, within the last five years. Here is a reference to it on Metsblog. I assume the boos had to do with the fact that Mets fans didn't like it back then and didn't like hearing it again. Not that I'm justifying it.

I think that was because the hometown hero had been ineffective, he had already lost his job as closer to Dennis Eckersley, and then he was inexplicably added to the All-Star team at a time when most A's fans wanted him run out of town.

... thus providing fodder for an epic Bill James rant in the 1988 Abstract, second only to perhaps his Marc Sullivan diatribe in the same book.

It was a crass move on the part of Fox and MLB to pull this at all. They can claim it was a tribute to the victims of the bombing, but the crime itself had nothing to do with baseball, and it was three months ago. It would make as much sense to have a tribute to Trayvon Martin or the victims of the Aurora theater shootings.

I'm sick of all the phony bullshit rituals at these games, almost all having something to do with soldiers and America as victim. At home, I was internally booing the schlocky, People Magazine "sponsored" thingy where a player gave a flag to a veteran.

I'm sick of all the phony ######## rituals at these games, almost all having something to do with soldiers and America as victim.

That little bit with that Army Ranger giving Brandon Phillips a coin or a patch or something, was just awful. Both guys were wired for sound, the camera was on them, and they performed their "spontaneous" scripted banter right on cue.

Why, when your respect is simply expected and at this point, pointless?

I don't know about this specific case, but in general being respectful is its own point, and is not dependent on whether it is expected. E.G., when attending someone's funeral, being respectful to other mourners is expected - but that is not a reason to not be respectful.

Whatever conformity and plasticity in the face of ritual there was in the 1950s can't possibly have been worse than it's been from ca. 2006-2013.

Odd time to claim this, considering that this is an article discussing the opposite of that.

I don't know about this specific case, but in general being respectful is its own point, and is not dependent on whether it is expected. E.G., when attending someone's funeral, being respectful to other mourners is expected - but that is not a reason to not be respectful.

That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about a commercial event where symbols of things completely extraneous to the business putting on the event have been appropriated and displayed -- for the purpose of generating goodwill for the business putting on the event.

One of the most touching moments I've ever seen was in 2005, right after the London subway bombings, when a brass band played "God Save the Queen" during the pre-game national anthems at the All-Star Game. As an Englishman, I really, really appreciated that.

One of the most touching moments I've ever seen was in 2005, right after the London subway bombings, when a brass band played "God Save the Queen" during the pre-game national anthems at the All-Star Game. As an Englishman, I really, really appreciated that.

The one time I've ever been in a crowd that was completely attuned to the Star Spangled Banner was at a 1962 Duke-N.C. State football game that took place during the Cuban Missile Crisis week, on the day before we woke up to learn that the Soviets had "blinked". That week was the first and only time during the entire Cold War period where it really did feel like This Might Be It, and prior to 9/11 I've never seen the nation so completely united.

According to Wikipedia, "Sweet Caroline" has been played during the 3rd period of NY Rangers games for years, but only if the Rangers are winning. As an ex-Ranger fan, this came as a surprise to me. Can anyone verify?

One of the most touching moments I've ever seen was in 2005, right after the London subway bombings, when a brass band played "God Save the Queen" during the pre-game national anthems at the All-Star Game. As an Englishman, I really, really appreciated that.

Everyone in the stadium probably thought it was "My Country 'Tis of Thee"

According to Wikipedia, "Sweet Caroline" has been played during the 3rd period of NY Rangers games for years, but only if the Rangers are winning. As an ex-Ranger fan, this came as a surprise to me. Can anyone verify?

I don't ever remember it being played at a Ranger game and I've been to plenty. Not as many in the last 2-3 years, but I've never heard it.